Shell Game
by DezoPenguin
Summary: Vivio is excited to take on her first field mission, but soon finds that the dangers of real life require her to test the limits of her own abilities or face the consequences.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This is the second in a prospective series of Vivio stories, following "The Road Onward." So if you're wondering why Vita is tutoring her, or why Parsifal is speaking German, take a glance at the earlier story!_

~X X X~

Jurisdictional disputes were never pretty. The tension between local police authorities and the TSAB military involved multiple degrees of this, particularly on the more technologically advanced worlds where the borderline between a dimensional crime and a purely local offense could be extremely fluid. Organizational pride and defensiveness concerning spheres of influence kept locals from asking for help, while orders from On High-in the wake of certain scandals concerning the Council and the leadership of the Ground Forces-similarly kept the military from horning in where the boundaries weren't clear.

Still, reasonable people could always find ways to work together, which was why City Police Captain Aston Connery found himself looking at Brigadier General Yagami Hayate across a communications link.

"...And that's the situation, General. I'll have to order in a tactical unit if we can't get some help here, and that's going to increase the risk of casualties substantially."

Hayate nodded. Now twenty-six, she'd been the youngest person in TSAB history to carry each of her successive ranks, and she was in line to continue that trend with another star on her epaulets within the year. Those kind of promotions didn't come along without knowing how to build and nurture a network of contacts.

"I see. I think we can extend a hand."

"It has to remain a police operation, though," Connery quickly put in. "You know what the commissioner would do if the evening news reads that the army had to bail out the police in chasing a criminal, even if it is a rogue mage."

Hayate smiled.

"Don't worry. I think I have just the person-and the excuse-to resolve this without too much in the way of collateral damage or bad P.R. I'll have them there within the hour."

Relief showed on Connery's face.

"Thank you, General."

"Not at all. Someone has to keep the city safe."

When the captain had signed off, Hayate made a second contact.

"Vita?"

"Yes, Mistress Hayate?" Vita looked like a girl of around twelve with red braids. That age estimate was only a few centuries low; she was one of the Wolkenritter, the guardian knights once linked to Hayate's Device, the Tome of the Night Sky. Though technically enlisted in the military, her loyalty was to Hayate personally and not to the chain of command.

"Do you think your student is up to a field mission?"

~X X X~

Takamachi Vivio might have been an adopted child, but she clearly had a lot of her mother in her. That was the only thing she could think of to explain why she actually enjoyed getting up early so she could spend two hours each morning working her butt off at combat training before school started. Take this morning: she was running at a flat-out spring, lungs burning, over irregular terrain, while her tutor floated in the sky _shooting at her_, she wasn't permitted to use her defensive magic, and she was _smiling_.

The smile went away when a shot vaporized the rock Vivio was standing on as she was in the act of jumping off. She went flying, crashing onto the pavement in a blow that, thankfully, her Barrier Jacket absorbed. She tried to get up, but it was too late; the next shot hit her in the side, launching her about ten feet to the right. She rolled over and over twice until she hit up against a low wall. _That_ hurt. As she turned, she realized with horror that the next shot was coming in already.

_**"Panzerschild,"**_ echoed the deep, rumbling voice of Parsifal, Vivio's Intelligent Device. The triangular barrier sprang up in front of her, stopping the _Schwalbeflieger_ missile harmlessly. Vivio sighed; the exercise was over, her magic use marking an equivalent of surrender for her.

_Darn it; I got forty yards farther last time;_ she thought as Parsifal informed her of her statistics.

_"It's all about mobility," _Vita had told her._ "For the center and fullback types, that's not such a big deal. Shooting magic handles the distance issue on its own and support magic is for helping your own side, the people next to the caster. We forwards, though, have to get right up to the enemy to do most of our damage. It's even worse for you, because you're primarily a defensive mage. A wall doesn't do much good if the people it's supposed to cover are on the wrong side of it._

_"Most of us use movement magic to cover the distance. Signum and I fly. The Nakajima sisters-you remember them?-have those rocket-powered rollerblades of theirs and the Wing Road spell to build paths in thin air. You...have problems. So we're going to be working on that from now on in addition to your regular training."_

Vita had always pushed her hard, so her wind wasn't a problem, but where the benefit was starting to show was in her reflexes and foot speed. Still, Vivio worried. Defensive magic was the one area in which she really excelled, and if she couldn't use it to protect her allies, she'd be dead weight as a combat mage.

She stood up and dusted herself off, surprised that Vita wasn't already there with advice and a slightly acerbic status report.

"Vita-sensei?" she called.

"Yeah? Oh, hold on a sec," Vita shouted back. Vivio noticed that there was a communications screen open next to her teacher, though she couldn't see who was talking. A moment later it closed and Vita descended from the sky, grinning.

"Change in plans today, kid."

"What is it, sensei?"

"You're going into the field."

Vivio felt her jaw sag.

"The...the field? You mean, a mission?"

"Yep. If you think you're up to it, of course. You're technically still a recruit, not an enlisted private, so you don't _have_ to do this."

"But...you think I should?" Vivio guessed. "You wouldn't be asking me otherwise."

"Yep. It's a favor for Mistress Hayate, but yeah, I think you're ready. From what I understand, it's a job your average nine-year-old could handle."

Vivio sighed while Vita laughed at her own gag. _Just because everybody in my family was saving the world at nine!_

"Seriously, though, I think you're up for this. You've been training hard with me this past year, and I'd put you on the line with any army troop. So get out there and get your feet wet."

Vivio nodded firmly.

"All right, Vita-sensei. I'll do it!"

"That's my girl. Come on, then."

~X X X~

Officer Chris Sable scowled into the sky.

"Damn it, Sarge; where's our backup? They don't expect us to take this guy _alone_, do they?"

"Relax, Sable. The captain said he'd arranged for the army to send someone."

"The army? Geez, we've gotta give this over to them? We tracked this guy here. No way we should let those glory-hogs grab the credit."

"The captain says it's still our case." Sergeant Vincent Shelby fished in his pocket for a pack of cigarettes.

"How'd he pull _that_ one off?" Sable said, a little disbelievingly.

Shelby shrugged.

"Beats me. Called in a favor, or maybe gave somebody one. Look, all I know is, with what we've learned about that dingus, there's no way I want to take that guy on without a tactical squad or some badass Ace backing us up. We investigated, identified the perp, and traced his location. Much as I'd like for you and me to wrap this ourselves, we're out of our league here."

He put a cigarette between his lips and was about to flick the lighter when he was interrupted.

"Excuse me."

Shelby glanced down. It was a girl, maybe eleven years old or so, with blonde hair and mismatched red and green eyes.

"Hey, we're on police business, here. This area's dangerous, kid."

"Yes, sir. If you're Sergeant Shelby and Officer Sable, I was told to report to you," she said in an excessively serious voice.

"_Report_ to us? What do you-oh, man, _you_ can't be-"

The girl saluted sharply.

"Takamachi Vivio, C- rank mage recruit, TSAB Ground Forces reporting, sir. I was told to place myself under your command."

"Sarge, is this some kind of joke?" Sable protested, but Shelby didn't answer at once.

"Takamachi...Takamachi..." he said aloud, turning the name over on his tongue. "Why the h-heck does that sound familiar?"

The girl blushed, looking away shyly.

"I think you mean Nanoha-mama."

Shelby laughed.

"Yeah, that was it. Takamachi Nanoha. Hotshot air force combat instructor. She gave a two-week seminar for the guys from tactical a year back." His smile grew. "Scared those hardcase bastards sh-spitless. Won me a hundred, your mom did, off one loudmouth who bet me one of those miniskirted flygirls couldn't show them anything new."

Since the girl was currently a color somewhere between a tomato and a beet, he figured he had the right memory.

"Okay; if my captain thinks you can handle yourself, then you're in. Get ready."

She nodded.

"Parsifal, set up!"

_**"Jawohl. Panzer Modus."**_

Royal blue light swirled around the girl, and her clothes were suddenly replaced by a Barrier Jacket: a dark gray bodysuit underneath a blue-piped black dress and blued-steel boots and gauntlets. The device that had surprised Shelby by speaking had assumed the form not of a weapon but a vambrace on Vivio's upper fight arm. Her hairstyle had changed, too, now being up in a ponytail off the left side of her head, tied with blue ribbon.

"Huh. Never seen a device like that before."

"I specialize in defen-_get down!_" She suddenly pushed him back and tried to step past him.

_**"Panzerschild."**_

The girl's barrier was raised just in time; a bolt of searing violet light shot down from an upper-story window of the target building two hundred yards away. It hit the shield with a deafening boom, knocking the girl onto her seat.

"Are you okay?" Shelby asked.

"Yes, sir. It...it didn't get through."

"Then get up and move!"

~X X X~

Vivio struggled back to her feet. The blast's impact had taken down her shield in a single hit! She knew things could do that-Vita had hammered the point home more than once in practice-but having it happen here, in for-real battle, was a real shock. However hard Vita pushed her, however many bruises she racked up, Vivio knew that Vita would never _really_ hurt her. That definitely didn't apply to Jack M. Cooper, rogue mage and suspected thief!

The two police officers led her around the corner of the building where they had cover; though it was quite possible an attack of that strength could shoot _through_ the building the rogue still had to find what he was shooting _at_. Which...

_That's not impossible, is it?_

"Parsifal, do you detect any Area Search or other scrying magic in effect?"

_**"Nein."**_

Vivio let out a sigh.

"Good; keep scanning and warn me if you do."

"I guess that thing really works like they said," Sable muttered.

"The experimental Storage Device, Memory Lancer?" Vivio asked.

"Yeah...hey, how do you know?"

"My teacher briefed me on the way here. I think your captain provided us with the details while requesting our help? It was created to not just hold mana, but actual spells, pre-loaded by a more powerful mage than would actually use the device in battle." She figured that it was kind of like the Belkan cartridge system that was used by Parsifal and most other high-end devices, except that cartridges contained a supply of mana to be used with multiple spells at the user's option while Memory Lancer contained only certain specific spells.

"That's the size of it," Shelby agreed. "Cooper was ranked C+ when he washed out of the Navy three years ago, but our information from the lab indicates that the device was charged up with AA rank shooting magic for testing purposes."

"AA rank?" _That's why it took out my shield!_

"Yeah, the research bigwigs wanted to show off to the military how their toy could turn foot troopers into walking death machines."

"Can't be that hot, if you managed to stop it," Sable muttered. _He doesn't trust me,_ Vivio thought.

"No, it was that strong," she corrected. "I'm kind of a specialist at defensive magic."

"So _that's_ why they picked you," Shelby said. "How are you at shooting?"

Vivio looked down.

"I have one attack, but it's pretty weak. I'm best in close."

"All right, then, we'll-" The sergeant broke off. "Sh-geez, I can't believe I was about to use a little kid as a decoy!"

"I'm a TSAB Ground Forces mage trainee, sir!" Vivio piped up. "If I was a child that needed protection, I wouldn't have been assigned to this mission! You should use my skills to the best tactical advantage for arresting this criminal, sir!" Her hackles were up. _How am I supposed to prove myself if I don't get a chance?_

The look in Shelby's eyes, though, stole the burst of anger almost as soon as it had come. They weren't the eyes of an adult dismissing her ability; they were the eyes of a worried, caring person. Maybe he had children of his own, or maybe he'd seen them hurt too many times as a result of crime or neglect. Whatever the reason was, Vivio knew that look because an almost identical one was written in her mind as her very first happy memory: it was the look Nanoha had shown when she'd said she would be Vivio's mama.

"Please?" she asked softly.

He shook his head, not to her question but at himself.

"Damn, I don't understand what the military is thinking, putting little kids out there as soldiers, but...all right." He called up a schematic of the building Cooper was holed up in. "I want you to enter from here. Try to draw his attention, but be careful. I'll enter from here, this second-floor window; I can reach it from the next building. Sable will come from the other side. We'll try to get the drop on him while he's trying to deal with you. Will you be okay?"

"Mmn!" Vivio said, nodding eagerly. "I mean, yes, sir!"

"All right, then. Move out, and everyone signal when you're in position."

The three of them split up, moving out in different directions so they could best choose an angle of approach that suited the plan. Vivio rounded another corner, expecting as she opened up on a direct line of sight with the target building that she'd draw fire, but things remained quiet. _I bet it was my triggering my Barrier Jacket that warned him,_ she thought. _He can't believe we're dead, though. Why isn't he firing?_

To get to the building's main door, she was going to have to cross open ground. In essence, she'd have to expose herself to attack just to get in position to _start_ her decoy role. She took a deep breath.

_All right, Vivio, this is it! Your first real mission! It's time to show what you can do!_

Presuming, of course, that the butterflies in her stomach didn't make her lose her breakfast from sheer nerves. _How did my parents do this so _easily_?_

She took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and set off running. She burst out of the narrow airshaft between buildings and began to cross the open ground in front of the target area, her boots ringing as they struck off the pavement. She covered ten feet, twenty, thirty-

_**"Panzerschild."**_

Parsifal's autoguard called up the barrier again and two shots were stopped by it-but this wasn't the same buster-like ray that had been used before. These shots were small, individual azure orbs.

_Homing projectiles!_ she thought desperately as the next dozen or so arced _around_ her shield, some coming from the left, some the right, some directly behind. Vivio jumped left, letting the first missile blast chunks out of the pavement. It was her morning training session all over again, except that Vita hadn't been trying to kill her, and Cooper's shots were coming in much greater numbers at once. She dodged again, then a third time, which gave Parsifal a chance to autoshield a three-strike cluster that made Vivio think she might get through this unscathed.

Which of course was when a shot clipped her leg, not penetrating her Barrier Jacket but making her stumble, and the last seven missiles pelted the eleven-year-old from all sides in direct hit after direct hit.


	2. Chapter 2

Vivio staggered as she was pummeled by seven magical projectiles one after another, striking her back, her arms, her thighs. Already stumbling, she fell forward, dropping to one knee, then catching herself with one hand so she didn't hit the pavement face-first.

But that was all.

_I don't get it. Vita-sensei hits me a lot harder than that in practice,_ Vivio thought as she pushed herself to her feet.

Then she did get it. Vita was an AAA+ ranked mage. The Iron Hammer Knight could hit a lot harder than even the spells in Memory Lancer. Vivio knew that as a trainer, Vita kept her attacks fully controlled, using only the amount of force necessary to teach the lesson, based on what she knew Vivio could handle.

It just so happened that "what Vivio could handle" turned out to be a greater power level than what Jack M. Cooper could actually generate.

Maybe she did have a chance of dealing with this problem.

A second stream of projectiles sprayed from the upper window.

"I don't need any more bruises, though. Parsifal?"

_**"Eisengeist."**_

This spell wasn't so much a shield at all as it was an enhancement, using mana for a short-term upgrade in the power of her Barrier Jacket. Where the first spray of shooting magic had knocked her around and left her a little sore at the points of impact, the second one was stopped completely; Vivio ran through the blasts without breaking stride, feeling no more than she would from a friendly pat. A third wave followed before she reached the door, but no fourth one; Cooper was apparently reconsidering his strategy.

"This is Vivio; I'm in position," she reported.

"Are you all right? I heard the noise."

"Yes, sir; I'm fine. I think he was just using his own magic against me, not the device's," she deduced from the power level as well as the color of the projectiles.

"Probably saving the big guns for when the main fight begins," Sable muttered, "unless we've gotten lucky and he's run out of stored spells."

"Don't count on it, Sable; it was supposed to be fully charged up for field trials and we never found evidence that he's been burning through them."

"A man can dream, Sarge. I'm in position."

A minute later, the sergeant reported that he was ready.

"Everyone in place? Go!"

Vivio hit the door.

"Sergeant Shelby, the door's locked!"

"You're in pursuit of a suspect who's attacked you already. Break it down!"

"Oh, okay." She'd been a bit worried about that, not knowing precisely where the limits on police action were. But since she'd been authorized...

Her fist slammed into the door next to the lock. Since she didn't have a weapon-type device, Vivio's hand-to-hand attacks just used her hands and feet, though like any magical strike they were enhanced by energy. The fact that her close-combat attacks were not up to the standard of her defense was prominently displayed by the fact that the door shuddered, but required two more hits to smash open.

Vivio's first impression of the building's interior was that it looked like a warehouse, or at least how warehouses looked on broadcast dramas, with lots of open space and gantries and catwalks, though some areas did appear to be separate, enclosed rooms which she figured were supposed to be for offices or something-it was hard to say, since she only got to watch grown-up shows when Fate-mama was home, Fate being the only parent susceptible to wheedling.

_He was shooting out of the front windows, so...he has to be in one of the upper front rooms._

She looked up just in time to see a door open and a man step out onto one of the catwalks. Even in the dim lighting, Vivio recognized him from the image Vita had shown her of the suspect. Cooper's pasty white skin and bright green hair were just like the picture, right down to the dozens of little cornrowed braids held by black beads. In his hand was a staff, about five feet long with a golden V-shaped crest: Memory Lancer.

"You!" he screeched. "Why won't you just fall?" He leveled the device at her and attacked again without any further preamble.

"Radiant Buster!"

_**"Panzerschild."**_

At close range the effect of blast against shield was definitely more pronounced. The majority of the force was still stopped, but Vivio found herself slammed flat onto her back. She shook her head to try and clear the cobwebs.

"Jack M. Cooper," she announced, "you are under arrest for grand larceny of magical goods and for assaulting an officer of the law!" She wondered if she had that right, but it sounded good. "Put down your device and come quietly!"

"As if!"

He sprang to the rail of the catwalk and over the edge. For a second Vivio thought he was going to fall or drop on top of her, but instead he sprang through the air to another catwalk forty feet or so away. _Movement magic!_ Not flight, she guessed, but some kind of enhanced jumping that let him cover ground quickly.

_All right, then...if he can move faster than I can I'll just have to try shooting back!_

"_Panzerfaust!"_ she cried, and a softball-sized orb of swirling rainbow color formed in the air. Vivio punched the orb and it streaked towards Cooper, dividing as it did into four separate, bulletlike orbs. She tried to control them with her mind, but one went sailing astray to hit the ceiling. The other three obediently arced towards him, following his path as he jumped again.

"Protection!" The missiles hit his barrier, battering it but not breaking through. Cooper cackled shrilly. "_This_ is how you do shooting magic. Aura Shooter!" He snapped his fingers and a dozen of the pale blue balls formed in the air around him, then streaked towards Vivio. She didn't even try to dodge, just raised her Iron Spirit again and let them impact harmlessly.

"You're not very smart, are you?" she said. "I'm only eleven and I knew that wouldn't work."

"Why, you little-" He swung the staff around again. "Delta Blaze!" Three violet orbs formed around him, and Vivio had a feeling that those were a more serious matter than she was ready to deal with. _A shield should stop them since they're probably not as powerful as the buster even combined, but they're homing shots so they'll just go around a shield...even if I block one, I'll take at least two hits..._

This did not look good, to say the least.

Before Cooper could launch the attack, though, a bolt of bright green energy struck him in the side, knocking him off-balance and disrupting his concentration. The three orbs shot off in random directions; one blasting a hole in the roof, one destroying a chunk of catwalk, and one gouging the floor.

"What the-?"

"How about picking on someone your own size?" Sable snapped. He'd emerged on a mezzanine catwalk off to the right, his wand-sized device in hand.

"Don't think that you can-ah!" Green cords began to snake around his limbs as Sergeant Shelby entered through an upper-level window, casting a binding spell. Cooper tried to bring his device around to blast him but his right arm was already entangled. In desperation, he flipped Memory Lancer around to his left hand and slashed the bindings away with its head, then got his free hand up and conjured a Round Shield to deflect Sable's second shot as effortlessly as Vivio had blocked Cooper's Aura Shooter.

He sprang again, making Vivio miss an attack of her own, then launched another Aura Shooter, this time ignoring the child to shell the policemen. They staved off the attack with their own barrier magic, but it had clearly taken its toll.

"You're an irrelevancy," he dismissed Sable with a snort, "and the little turtle can't hurt me." Vivio flinched, even though the insult was a little bit true.

"Maybe so, but you can't touch me, either!" she snapped back, reaching for a ladder to try and get up closer. "Once you use up your fancy little stick's tricks, you won't even be able to get my attention!" It wasn't quite so snappy as Nanoha-mama would have managed, but she thought it wasn't too bad under the circumstances. At least it made Cooper's face twist into an angry scowl.

"True," he ground out between gritted teeth. "Which means I just need to deal with the pesky binder to get away. Aura Shooter!" The azure missiles formed, but did not launch. Instead, Cooper leveled Memory Lancer at the sergeant.

_He'll shatter Shelby's defenses first, then finish him off with the shooter!_ Vivio realized. _If only I could get there!_ But she couldn't; she couldn't cover the ground between them anywhere near fast enough. She _was_ a turtle, hard-shelled but terminally slow, too immobile to help except by drawing enemy fire.

_Wait a minute! Maybe I can-_

"Parsifal! Load cartridge!"

"Radiant-"

_**"Eisenschild."**_

"Buster!"

The violet wave slammed into Shelby's position with an explosive roar, followed by the rapid-fire peppering of the projectiles. The flare of interacting energies made it too bright to see for a moment, but when the flash cleared, Cooper found himself with his jaw dropping again. A glowing shield wall of shimmering rainbow light had wrapped domelike over the sergeant, like a triangular sheet bent into a tent-or a turtle's shell.

The police officers didn't wait to figure out exactly what had happened, but acted at once. Shelby's binding magic wrapped Cooper up tightly before he could jump again, and another jolt from Sable knocked Memory Lancer out of his hand.

~X X X~

"What," Sable muttered as they marched the restrained and sealed Cooper up to their police vehicle, "is it raining kids today or something?"

"I don't know," Shelby said. "I'd say the first kid turned out okay for us."

"You're just saying that 'cause she saved your butt twice."

Vivio beamed at the compliment, then noticed who the second "kid" leaning up against the police vehicle was.

"Vita-sensei!"

"Hey," Vita said with a lazy wave.

"You know her?"

"Mmn! She's my teacher!" Vivio collected herself and said, "Lieutenant Vita, these are Sergeant Shelby and Officer Sable of the City Police."

"Lieutenant?" Sable couldn't help but gape. "They're making little girls your age _officers_?"

Vita glared at him, making Vivio start mentally tallying defensive magics. Vita _hated_ to be treated like a child by random strangers.

"Why not, since the cops are doing it for numbnuts, _Officer_ Slade," she commented, lazily swinging her device around off her shoulders. Since Graf Eisen was a massive warhammer, it looked like police-army relations were about to sharply decline, until Shelby spoke up.

"Ease up and apologize to the lady, Slade," he said, grinning. "We've already done one gag about combat instructors today."

Vita grinned back.

"Oh, you know Nanoha, do you?"

Vivio blushed. _Geez, not Vita-sensei, too!_

Shelby dropped a hand on her shoulder.

"Look, Vivio, we've got to get this guy properly in custody, so we're gonna leave you with your teacher if you don't mind. But...thanks. You did great out there. You ever need the cops for anything, give me a call, okay?"

"Mmn!"

Once the policemen had gone, Vivio and Vita dropped their Barrier Jackets, resuming their normal training outfits of shorts and T-shirts.

"So, how was it?" Vita asked.

Vivio thought that over.

"Kinda scary...but exciting, too, especially when I did things right!"

Vita nodded.

"You kept your head, though. That was good. Lots of people freeze up when they know what's going on is real. You can train 'till your arms fall off, but you know it's just practice. Battle's different."

Vivio nodded.

"I had that thought, too," she admitted.

"That was a nice trick with the shield. Most people can't do that; they have to use a spell like Defenser Plus to cover someone else. How'd you think of it?"

"It was Cooper's 'turtle' crack. I...I wanted to protect the sergeant and I started thinking about shells, and I thought, well, my shield spells make a triangular wall but...if I thought of it like a sheet I could bend it, right? And I thought maybe if I could cast it _away_ from me like I was shooting it...I...I didn't want to let my team down..."

Vivio found herself tearing up out of the blue. _Why am I sniffling?_ Vita didn't seem surprised, though, but took out a handkerchief.

"Here. Blow your nose, kid."

Vivio nodded, accepted the handkerchief, and honked.

"Sorry."

"No big. Most people get a letdown after battle. The adrenaline drops, and the brain lets all the emotions it's been holding back catch up to it all at once, stuff like fear, worry, guilt. You get used to it. Or you don't-your choice, really. Handkerchiefs are cheap."

Despite herself, Vivio giggled.

"Of course, now that we know that you've got this new ability, we're going to work it hard in practice," Vita continued on. "What kind of range you have, how distance affects the strength of the shield, all of that." She grinned evilly. "I'm getting some ideas for exercises right now."

Vivio started to groan, then stopped.

"Hey, wait a minute. Vita-sensei, how did you know about what I did?"

"This was a training mission, right? How am I supposed to evaluate your performance if I don't know what it was?"

"So you were watching _the whole time?_"

"Yep. I can be quiet if I have to. Besides which, if you and the cops got in trouble, I could step in and bail you out. Mistress Hayate's sneaky like that."

"I don't get it."

"It's an excuse for her to send in someone on my level without it looking like the army's taking over. Anything I had to do, hey, it was just correcting for my student's errors. Only you handled it yourself, so I got to sit around and watch."

Vivio shook her head.

"That's confusing!"

"Politics." She made a face. "Me, I'd rather stick to problems I can hit."

"Me, too," Vivio agreed. Then again, she _was_ eleven.

"Now, what say we jog over to school? You've still got a big day ahead of you."

Vivio did the math in her head.

"But that's two hours from here!"

"That should be enough time for me to break down your performance with you. Let's start with your approach to the building. If you're going to cross a fire zone, put your _Eisengeist_ up _first_. An armor enhancer won't do you any good if you don't..."

"Vita-senseiiii!" Vivio moaned as she took off running after the already-moving redhead.

~X X X~

_A/N: Once again, German translations for Vivio's various new spells are courtesy of Google and, of course, my own stupidity._ _Bonus points are awarded to anyone who deduces what the M stands for in the villain's name!_

~X X X~

**Vivio's Magical Omake Theater!**

"So let me see," Hayate said to Nanoha. "According to this report, Vivio seems to be progressing well in her training."

"Mmn!" Nanoha said happily. "She's studying very hard under Vita-chan. She's learning new things almost as fast as we did, and without the constant pressure of life-or-death battle."

"So speaks the proud mother. But I did have a question. Vita was talking to me about some of Vivio's upgraded abilities that she created for herself. There's an enhanced personal barrier, _Eisengeist._ There's an enhanced shield, _Eisenschild, _and even an enhanced attack spell, _Eisenfaust_. Are you sensing a pattern?"

Nanoha sighed.

"You should see her room at home. Graf Eisen wall-scrolls. Graf Eisen PVC statues. Graf Eisen T-shirts. She even has a Graf Eisen body pillow and sheets!" Nanoha hung her head and sighed. "My...my daughter has warhammer _moe_..."


End file.
